The Crown's Entrapment

The day went by, and Clara went ahead with fulfilling some of the duties expected of her within Cordon Castle. True, she hadn't seen Gilas even after she already had her lunch, but she was sure that he was simply too busy to come to see her at the moment. And besides, even she was looking to be rather tired with all of the work that was suddenly thrust into her capable hands.

After all, she had once been an Alpha. Alongside the fact that she had also once been a regular tenant in the castle, and she knew more than enough about how things worked around there in terms of bureaucracy.

"This is wrong," Clara sighed.

The servant in front of her blinked. "It is? But the clerk that gave this to me said that it would be alright?"

She shook her head in annoyance as she pushed the offending document out of her side of the table. Apparently, Gilas was too busy looking over the current holdings beneath the dungeons, possibly in part of his planned visit to Pinra once they've hashed things out with the King. That meant that it fell to her to be the one to approve minor tasks such as paperwork and general petitions.

"The name of the petitioner isn't properly indicated here," she pointed out while tapping on the bottom portion of the parchment. "I understand that it might be because the person filing this might be new, but that doesn't excuse it being wrong."

She could only let out another sigh. Truly, it was a wonder why she even bothered doing such things. Then again, helping out like this was a semi-fun pastime for her dating all the way back from when she first began living in the castle on a semi-permanent basis. She could still remember being taught by the Queen Mother how to run simple background checks on some of the documents being handled, making sure that everything was filled out perfectly with no errors or discrepancies to make sure that the kingdom would run as smoothly as it could be.

"Understood, Lady Clara."

With a wave of her hand, Clara let the servant leave with the document, leaving her alone with even more work than before as she ducked her head and went at it. It wasn't like there was anything else for her to do at the moment.

[Except for maybe looking for Gilas?]

She rolled her eyes at Sheba's obvious attempts at teasing. [He's probably just as busy as I am right now. It's best not to try and make things more complicated by looking for him.]

[But wouldn't it be nice to show him that you care?] Sheba insisted with a teasing lilt to her tone. [Think of how much he'd appreciate your presence. I'm sure he'll be ecstatic.]

Letting out another sigh, Clara promptly ignored her wolf's usual bouts of teasing. Still, it was a decent distraction from the monotony that was paperwork.

At least, until something new happened.

"Clara?"

Her ears perked up as she heard a pair of footsteps enter the room. Looking up, she couldn't help but smile as the Queen Mother came up to greet her.

"Mo- Your Highness," Clara quickly corrected herself as she stood up and gave the older woman a short bow.

"Clara, you know you don't have to be that formal with me," the Queen Mother warmly chuckled. "Chin up, dear. I won't have you bowing to me after all of the years we've known together."

Quickly raising her head, Clara gave her mother figure a grateful smile before gesturing for the older woman to sit. Sitting back down, she only then noticed the presence of another figure in the room.

"Oh, Elder Handi," Clara quickly greeted the other man. "I didn't notice you there."

"It's to be expected, Lady Clara," Elder Handi chuckled. "Everyone knows that doing of clerical work is taxing enough as it is."

Clara could only smile as the Elder sat beside the Queen Mother. Shrugging, she was about to continue with some of her work when she noticed a different air between the two people in front of her. Somehow, it felt as if the two had a deeper connection than when she first knew them… A connection that went deeper than simply understanding or friendship.

"I have a feeling that the two of you aren't here just to greet me," Clara pointed out with a raised brow. "I know Her Highness would visit me, but not alongside someone else…"

She let her words trail off, her eyes boring into the Queen Mother with a teasing look. In response, the older woman held the slightest of blushes, one that was more than significant considering her usual composure.

"Oh, I'm simply accompanying the Queen Mother in her rounds," Elder Handi readily explained. "We had just arrived, you see, and once she heard that you and Lord Gilas are currently managing things, she insisted to check on you."

"I see," Clara nodded with a soft smirk. "But as you can both see, I have things well in hand.

"Are you sure, dear?" the Queen Mother worriedly asked.

"I'm very sure," Clara replied with a smile. "Feel free to go check on the others. Besides, I wouldn't want to interrupt you two by boring you both with all of the work I'm doing."

***^^

Savannah would've blushed if she wasn't being in control as she left Clara behind her. By her side, Handi was holding onto her hand, his warmth radiating to hers as she took in a small breath.

"She's rather sharp, isn't she?" Handi amusedly remarked.

"I raised her, after all," she proudly replied. "Granted, I wasn't ready for her to tease me like that, but that was to be expected."

It was very much expected of her, after all. Clara had been wanting her to be happy for years now, and only now did she decide to open up her heart in the same way that her adopted daughter had done for Gilas. Well, maybe not fully, but she was willing to try nevertheless.

"Still, are you really fine with this?"

Raising an eyebrow, Savannah turned to Handi. With a smile, she replied, "Again, I'm fine with this arrangement. While I'm not ready to fully open my heart once more, I'm already in the process of doing so."

Truly, even as Handi's grip on her hand tightened ever so slightly, she couldn't help but look forward to the things to come.